Injured Workers To Rally In Sacramento On Workers Memorial Day

4/27/2006

Workers To Protest "Wal-Martization" in Workers' Comp Industry

Sacramento,
Hundreds of injured workers will be joining trade unionists and doctors to protest on Friday April 28th, 2006 on the south steps of the State Capitol the growing crisis in workers' comp and the privatization of all medical services by the California OSHA program. The demonstration which has been endorsed by labor councils and injured workers organizations from throughout the state will also include well know injured worker advocates from throughout California. These include Larry Nign, subject of a film called "Almost Broken" http://www.almostbroken.com, Nurse practitioner Barbara Clark who was injured at a 7th Day Adventist hospital in Bakersfield and recently framed and jailed up injured work Anita Blick, who was a police dispatcher in Atherton.
These workers and others have real life stories about how the workers' comp system has failed under the deregulation of the insurance companies under Proposition 899 and the growing fear that California workers have that they and their families will not be taken care of if they are injured on the job. The "Wal-Martization" of the workers' comp industry in which insurance companies are shifting the cost of injured workers to the public is a growing issue in California that the rally will also address.


California Coalition For Workers' Memorial Day CCWMD
(415)867-0628
http://www.workersmemorialday.com


Confirmed Speakers as of 3/27/06

Bill Myer, Business Manager UA 393
Barbara Clark, an injured nurse practitioner fired by 7th Adventist Church
in Bakersfield
Dina Padilla, an injured Kaiser worker & president of VOICES-B.E.S.T.
Advocate for Injured workers.
Mary Vivenzi, partner of Kevin Noah a UBC Local 35 carpenter killed on the job
Larry Nign. an injured worker and the founder of http://www.MyStateFraudStory.com
Cathon Adams, injured worker from University of California at Davis
Lloyd Kennedy, injured worker from CA Department of Corrections
Anita Blick, injured Atherton IBT city worker jailed in a workers' comp
frame-up
David Hurlburt, CWA 9410 Health and Safety Committee Chair
Sam Gold, Sheetmetal Workers Local 104, California Injured Workers Coalition
Will Goodo, a disabled Richmond Comcast worker who was fired after speaking
out about working conditions and in favor of the unionization of Comcast
workers in Richmond, CA
Rebecca Gettleman, fired UTU1730 injured Amtrack worker

Join Workers Memorial Day Rally On April 28, 2006 at 11:00 AM
In Sacramento
on the South Steps of the Capitol


Stop Terrorizing Injured Workers
Defend CA-OSHA From Privatization
Get the Insurance Companies Out of the Healthcare Industry
&
Single Payer Healthcare for All

Every worker is under threat of seeing their health and safety going down
the drain. The deregulation of Workers Compensation by the governor and
legislature under Senate Bill 899 has allowed the insurance companies to
refuse to pay for medical care and compensation for tens of thousands of
injured workers. At the same time their profits have grown by billions of
dollars. These insurance companies are only receiving a slap on the hand
for not caring for workers they have admitted have been injured on the job.
They now stall treatment and care while injured workers injuries
worsen. Additionally, temporary disability has been limited to two years,
retraining has be virtually eliminated and permanent disability now
excludes pain and suffering. Most workers are now required to go to company
doctors who send people back to work whether they are healthy or not. These
doctors are refusing to treat workers since they are really working for the
insurance companies. Some injured workers have committed suicide because
they were not able to get pain medication for serious injuries on the job.
This has destroyed families, caused the loss of homes and left many injured
workers homeless. At the same time permanent disability benefits have also
been cut by 50%. How are injured workers supposed to survive? Only
recently, the Governor and his acting Commissioner of Cal-Osha have
eliminated the last two remaining doctor position. This is another attack
on the health and safety of California workers.

The deregulation in Bill 899 has also led to workers being fired who file
workers compensation claims. Some employers are illegally firing workers
claiming that they cannot do the job even if they have had a temporary injury.

The crisis of the workers compensation system is now combined with the
growing problems of protecting health insurance for unionized workers. Many
retired or injured workers are forced to go to public hospitals because
they cannot afford Cobra or other private plans. Workers injured on the job
end up going on State disability or SSI where the tax payer is again stuck
with the cost. This "cost shifting" and "Wal-Martization" by the insurance
companies and employers is forcing the tax payer to pay the costs of
healthcare on a shrinking and privatized public care system.

The onerous and uncontrolled costs of health insurance now means that union
negotiators are being told that all new money must go into healthcare
instead of wages and pensions.

This is another reason why on Workers Memorial Day in Sacramento on April
28, 2006 at 11:00 AM on the south steps of the capitol, workers and trade
unionists will rally to commemorate workers injured and killed on the job
and to demand a single payer healthcare system for all. This would allow
California workers to go to any doctor or hospital they want. It would
eliminate the control of the insurance companies of our healthcare industry
and end the practice of increasing their profits by withholding
needed medical care.


Bring your family and fellow workers on the job.
We need to make our voices heard on Workers Memorial Day

Endorsed by San Francisco Labor Council, San Mateo Labor Council, Bricklayers Local 3, SEIU Local 535, IUOE Local 39 San Francisco District, AFT 2121, NALC 214, SEIU 415, AMFA Local 6, CWA 9410, IBEW 302, AFT 2121, KPFA Labor Collective, Peace & Freedom Party-Sacramento County, KPFA Pushing Limits Radio Collective and others.

For Transpiration Please Call (415)867-0628

Endorsers of this rally and donations for busses and literature should
be mailed to:
California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day
P.O. Box 720027
San Francisco, CA 94172
http://www.workersmemorialday.org
lvpsf [at] labornet.org
For more information, to make a contribution and a copy of the resolution to support this rally
please call (415) 867-0628, http://www.workersmemorialday.com P.O. Box
720027, SF 94172
California Injured Workers Coalition (415) 738-2184
http://www.injuredworkerscoalition.com
North Bay Area - (707) 795-0783, fightN4yourlife [at] aol.com
Sacramento Area - Dina Padilla (916) 725-2673 blndi26 [at] cs.com
Los Angeles Area - Christine Pietz (818) 846-1632 Cpietz [at] sbcglobal.net
East Bay - Stephen Kessler 510-978-7435 skesslermcp [at] yahoo.com


SF Labor Council Backs Sacramento Workers Memorial Day

pdf of resolution available from lvpsf [at] igc.org

Support April 28. 2006 Workers Memorial Day Sacramento Rally

Whereas, the growing crisis within workers’ deregulation is harming
hundreds of thousands of California workers and their families and,

Whereas, injured workers have been unable to get proper medical
care, payments for their housing and their families and some workers have
committed suicide and,

Whereas, this crisis for the injured workers and their families continues.
While profits are going up for the insurance companies, retraining benefits
have been permanently cut and now temporary workers' comp is limited to two
years and,

Whereas, Workers' Comp was established to protect our rights and not the
profit of the insurance companies yet today, these firms are making massive
profits by not providing medical care for injured workers and compensation
so they can survive and,

Whereas, as a result of the attack on Workers’ Comp, workers who are sick
or injured on the job are afraid to report this to their employer for fear
of being retaliated against and those who do report injuries are having
their private medical records used for retaliation and,

Whereas, Cal-Osha is also under attack with less inspectors and the danger
of growing health and safety problems on the job and,

Whereas, every day in California, two workers die on the job and this
number will grow unless injured and disabled workers along with their
families and the entire labor movement stand together now to defend our
healthcare and basic rights and,

Whereas, all workers should be entitled to healthcare and the
implementation of single payer in California in order to get the insurance
companies out of the healthcare industry,

Whereas, the need to focus on the State Capitol Sacramento is critical
since the deregulation and destruction of worker's comp emanated from the
decision of the governor and the near unanimous vote of the state
legislature for Workers’ Comp Deregulation Bill 899 and,

Therefore be it resolved, this council will endorse, publicize and
financially support the annual April 28 Workers Memorial Day rally in
Sacramento at 11:00 AM on the South Steps of the State Capitol initiated by
the California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day and finally, this council
will forward this resolution for concurrence by all affiliated bodies and
all California labor councils and the California Federation of Labor.













CA-OSHA Medical Services Being Privatize and Destroyed



by Dr. Larry Rose
larryrosemd [at] sbcglobal.net
Last medical doctor employed by California OSHA program

The California Labor & Workforce Development Agency has just decided to abolish the only physician position left in the Cal/OSHA Medical Unit. This will leave Cal/OSHA with one registered nurse in southern California and no DOSH medical personnel in northern California.
The present Acting Chief of Cal-OSHA, Len Welsh, has recently stated there was "long standing dissatisfaction with a physician in the Medical Unit who has since retired."Actually Dr. Larry Rose M.D.,M.P.H. has worked in the Medical Unit of Cal-OSHA for 28 years, and at the 25 year award ceremony was publicly commended by Mr. Welsh. ;Dr. Rose is an Occupational/Environmental Medicine specialist (a specialty that combines preventive public health medicine, epidemiology, and toxicology), with an academic appointment, and has always been strongly committed to strengthening the mission of the Cal-OSHA statewide workplace injury and illness prevention enforcement program. Throughout Dr. Rose's tenure at Cal-OSHA there were no communications that indicated any dissatisfaction with his work. Dr. Rose maintained a close positive working relationship with professional coworkers (Industrial Hygienists) in closely coordinated team work during investigations. Also in the course of his work he was in frequent extended contact with employees, employers, physicians, unions, public health officials, academic centers, other state and federal agencies, the general public, and elected officials. Mr. Welsh also stated that there is a contract with the Department of Health Services, (DHS) to use a physician (Public Health Medical Officer, or PHMO), to do compliance or enforcement work at Cal-OSHA, This is a complete fabrication since there is only one PHMO physician that works for DHS-HESIS. HESIS has been cut to the bone, and has been threatened with elimination by Mr. Welsh every year for the past three years. HESIS is a very important supportive agency to Cal-OSHA and is in the process of recommending stronger worker protections for 68 very toxic chemicals that are carcinogens,reproductive, or developmental hazards. HESIS is 50% funded by Cal-OSHA, and is only contracted to do assistance, and consultation to Cal-OSHA. There is no contract with HESIS for the only physician to do enforcement activities. This has been an informal arrangement that violates the California Labor Code. The HESIS function is clearly covered in the California Labor Code, and HESIS staffing levels ned to be brought back up to previous levels in order to perform mandated important supportive functions to improve the Cal-OSHA overall mission.


In 1975, Cal/OSHA had seven physicians and three registered nurses. When the Cal OSHA program was abolished by the Deukmajian administration there were two PHMO physicians in the statewide Medical Unit. When Proposition 97 was overwhelmingly passed in 1989 with the strong support of organized labor, and public health activists it was the intent to reestablish the Cal-OSHA program at the previous high level of functioning. If the growth of the numbers of employees, and workplaces in California is taken into account, that would require there be a minimum of three PHMO physicians in the Medical Unit, statewide. In 2006, the LWDA is planning to effectively abolish Cal/OSHA’s Medical Unit altogether. The alleged salary savings will be dwarfed by costs of "contracting out" for medical services that Cal/OSHA is required by law to conduct. Federal-OSHA, and all of the state programs have on board Occupational/Environmental Medicine Departments that give important medically scientific fact based professional credibility to the health sector of these programs. The privatization or contracting out of professional science based government civil service positions can only be understood in the context of high level partisan public officials wanting to politically control important agencies that are mandated to protect the public, (employees, and the general public). The general weakening of agencies such as Cal-OSHA is a good example of how this is methodically and unrelentingly accomplished. Going, going, gone!

The abolition of the Cal/OSHA Medical Unit means the Division will be unable to enforce the nation’s only ergonomics standard as citations depend on a verification of the two repetitive motion injuries that trigger the standard’s requirements. The Appeals Board law judges have generally refused to accept non-physician evaluations of these medical criteria. So the California ergonomics standard is effectively nullified by this LWDA action.

Other key programs that depend on Medical Unit participation, and which will be much more difficult, if not impossible, include:

- evaluation of employer medical surveillance programs;
- medical expert testimony in appeal hearings;
- evaluation of bloodborne pathogens exposure control programs; and
- evaluation of adverse health effects from chemical exposures.

The abolition of the Medical Unit comes at a time when Cal/OSHA is preparing for the Asian flu pandemic and is preparing new regulations for infectious airborne diseases like tuberculosis.

All supporters of an effective Cal/OSHA program need to contact LWDA Secretary Victoria Bradshaw and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to demand that the one physician position be reinstated and filled as soon as possible.

Please call:

- Victoria Bradshaw: 916-327-9064

- Arnold Schwarzenegger: 916-445-2841



Background Information from 2003 when the last attempt to abolish the Medical Unit was made under Democrat Gray Davis:

Passed unanimously by the 8/25/03 meeting of the San Francisco Labor Council


DEFEND CAL-OSHA DOCTOR LARRY ROSE

Statement In Defense Of Cal-OSHA Doctor Larry Rose

Whereas, the importance of defending Cal-OSHA is critical for all
California workers and the public in general and,

Whereas, the need of a medical doctor on the staff of Cal-OSHA is
critical for the retrieval of medical records and other important
tasks in the protection California's workers and,

Whereas, 50% of the cost of Dr. Larry Rose is paid for from federal fund
and,

Whereas, Dr. Larry Rose has given a good part of his life in the
protection of the health and safety of California workers,

Whereas, the Cal/OSHA public health physician position is an integral
part of the Cal/OSHA program. and in the heyday of the program, there
were three occupational health physicians, as well as several nurse
consultants and,

Whereas, the Cal/OSHA program is now down to to one physician and two
nurse positions,

Therefore be it resolved, The San Francisco Labor Council calls on
Governor Davis and the Director Of the Department of Industrial
Relations to rescind any plans to lay-off or eliminate the civil
service position of Dr. Larry Rose and,

Therefore be it resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council calls
for Cal-Osha to return to employing a staff of three full time
doctors to protect the health and safety of the 17 million workers of
California and finally,

This Labor Council will send this resolution to Governor Gray Davis
and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, and will seek
concurrence of this resolution by all other affiliated bodies
including the California State Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

Adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on August, 25, 2003.

Respectfully Submitted,

Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer San Francisco Labor Council

-------------------------------------------------------------

The Last Physician/Medical Officer Position is Eliminated at
Cal/OSHA. Save the PHMO Position!

The Cal/OSHA public health physician position is an integral part of
the Cal/OSHA program. In the heyday of the program, there were three
occupational health physicians, as well as several nurse consultants.
We are now down to one physician and two nurse positions.

The occupational health physician:

1. Provides medical expertise to link exposures to employee illness,
particularly when those exposures are not already controlled by
regulations. Often, these investigations are in new technologies, or
new uses of chemicals, for example in the biotech industry.

2. Interprets medical records and provides medical testimony at
hearings. Medical record review is necessary in all repetitive motion
injury cases. It is also necessary to establish that an employee has
sustained a "serious injury" as defined by the Labor Code in order
that accident-related penalties are applied.

3. Recommends and evaluates medical surveillance programs both for
chemical hazards and biological agents. For example, the physician
helped to establish Cal/OSHA protocols for requiring control measures
for tuberculosis, in health care settings, prisons, and other high
risk situations. The physician evaluates the results of biological
monitoring for exposure to toxic agents.

4. The Cal/OSHA physician recommends special orders in workplaces
where there is no existing standard to address hazards. These special
orders have included protecting employees against Q-fever,
tuberculosis, ergonomic hazards, and heat stress. There are many
other functions that the physician provides, including mentoring
occupational medicine residents, serving as a resource in regulatory
development, interfacing the program with the medical community, and
providing advice in individual cases and in the development of
programs and publications. It is critical to maintain this position,
since once lost, it is unlikely to be restored. Larry Rose M.D., MPH
Cal/OSHA Medical Unit (415)383-6540


Cal/OSHA Alert: Cal/OSHA Functions at Risk

The last remaining Occupational Medicine physician in the Cal/OSHA
program is being eliminated. This important position was selected for
elimination due to the reduction in the overall budget for the
Division. It is 50% funded by federal funds. This creates a crisis in
the effectiveness, and credibility of the entire Cal/OSHA compliance
and consultation programs.

The Cal/OSHA Medical Unit Physician functions in close coordination
with the compliance safety and health officers whenever there is a
medical problem caused by workplace environmental exposures. This
coordinated investigation usually consists of on-site interviewing of
affected employees reviewing doctor1s first reports, interviewing
evaluating/treating physicians, and obtaining all up to date relevant
medical records.

There are several specific substance standards, (e.g. lead, asbestos,
arsenic, etc,) that require detailed medical surveillance when
various trigger exposure levels occur. Whether or not the
requirements of these standards are met needs the review of a health
care professional.

At a certain high level of exposure to any toxic that is causing a
serious health reaction immediate, and ongoing medical surveillance
can be required. This can only be developed by interviewing all
exposed employees, reviewing all work related medical records, and
looking at past and probable future exposures to determine the
initial and ongoing periodic medical surveillance requirements.

The main investigations where participation of the Medical Unit
physician are critically important are:

1. The Ergonomic Standard (Title 8, 5110), where only the physician
in the Medical Unit can make the contacts to determine that each
injury recorded is a true repetitive motion injury primarily caused
by job task factors.

2. The Bloodborne pathogen standard (Title 8, 5193). This complex,
very detailed standard requires a thorough up to date grasp of the
rapidly changing risks for transmission of HIV and hepatitis in
hospitals, clinics, and other health care settings where health care
worker exposures occur. The adequacy of the needlestick prevention
programs, the needlestick post exposure prophylactic programs,
training, engineered sharps program, is a constantly changing
picture, and needs a health care professional1s evaluation in the
course of any bloodborne pathogen investigation.

3. Infectious disease exposures such as tuberculosis, SARS, Q Fever,
Coccidiocycosis, rabies, Legionaire1s disease, and bioterrorism
organisms such as anthrax, smallpox, need the input of the Medical
Officer responses for credible effective response to employee
concerns and complaints.

4. Indoor air quality health complaints, need Medical Officer
reviews. True building related illnesses such as asthma
exacerbations, Legionaires1s Disease, upper respiratory infections,
CNS reactions, need to be evaluated using treating physician
interviews, and medical records. Linking specific health reactions to
airborne conditions in various building areas needs special medical
input. Multiple Chemical Sensitive employees often need special
reviewing.

5. Often employees that are expose to carcinogens, reproductive
hazards, hormone disruptors, and CNS toxics, need detailed review to
direct exposed employees to selected health care specialists.

6. Clusters of cancers, adverse reproductive events, and other
medical diagnostic catagories frequently require epidemiologic
screening.

In addition to the above six categories of frequent investigation
participation the Medical Officer:

1. Supervises the medical surveillance program of Cal/OSHA compliance
officers.

2. Participates in fatality investigation

3. Evaluations of new or emerging diseases, or health issues.

4. In legal appeal, and settlement proceedings gives input in
depositions, and as an expert witness.

5. Frequent telephone responses to employee, and employer inquiries about health reactions and prevention as related to workplace
exposures.

6. Develops health Hazard Alerts.

7. Advises health care professionals regarding Cal/OSHA requirements.

8. Helps screen health complaints for district offices (particularly
infectious diseases).

9. Responds to telephone inquires about health reactions, and
prevention as related to Cal/OSHA regulations.

10. Lectures to heath care workers when requested.

11. Consultations with employers when requested.

12. Developing and coordinating the residency training program at
Cal/OSHA as a member of the Department of Medicine at UCSF.

13. Liaison with infectious disease departments, and CDC.

14. Interacting with other state agencies such as DHS, EPA, Pesticide
enforcement.

15. Developing standards.

16. When Employees are exposed to high levels of toxic materials
Cal/OSHA can require a Medical Surveillance program. The development
of this program includes interviewing exposed workers, review of past
and probable future exposures, and a medical determination that
includes items of appropriate surveillance protocols such as:
laboratory tests, X-rays. lung function tests, and biologic tests

If the Public Medical Officer position in Cal/OSHA is eliminated, no
one in CAL/OSHA will be able to effectively fill these critically
important functions.

Proposition 97 passed by the electorate in1989 required that the
state OSHA program should be reinstated at the previous level of
effectiveness, or at least as effective as Federal-OSHA The Cal/OSHA program is now responsible for protecting
the health and safety of more than 17 million workers in the State of
California. In 1989 there were two Medical Officer positions in the
Cal/OSHA program.


Cal/OSHA, Decreasing Effectiveness Due To Staffing Level Failures

Cal/OSHA: Tiger Team Enforcement or Paper Tiger?

At present the Division has 193 field officers, covering compliance,
high-hazard industries, process safety management and mining and
tunneling.

That is a ratio of one inspector for about every 91,191 workers and
6,100 workplaces. One or more of the top three leadership positions
within DOSH has been vacant for "significant periods" in the last
several years. Recently the vacant chief's post was filled by Len
Welsh, who still has to be officially nominated by the governor and
confirmed by the state Senate. That job was vacant for almost a year
after the departure of John Howard.

The Division has had no deputy chief for health since 2000.

DOSH's "benchmark" for inspector staffing remains at l98, the level
that Fed-OSHA accepted in 1994. Previously the benchmark had been 805
inspectors, based on a 1980 U.S. Court of Appeals decision in AFL-CIO
v. Marshall. The Benchmark constitutes the "fully effective"
compliance staffing level of a state program. OSHA had recommended to
the court that California allocate 334 safety and 471 health
compliance officers.

But in l993 the Department of Industrial Relations reassessed
California's staffing requirements and came up with a benchmark of
118 safety and 80 health officers.

Whether or not the 805 benchmark was ever realistic, the new benchmark
has remained static for almost 10 years while the number of
workplaces has risen 21 percent and the workforce has increased 13
percent. The ratio of inspectors to workers has declined 6 percent
since 2001 - from 1:86,212 to 1: 91,191
If the ratios of inspectors to workers in California were compared to other state programs such as Oregon, Washington State, or North Carolina, or British Columbia, or Ontario, Canada, Cal-OSHA should have five times as many inspectors. In 1975 Cal-OSHA was the strongest state OSHA program in the country. It is now one of the weakest programs, and this is a disgrace. The insufficient level of enforcement staffing has lead to an inability of the agency to meet the mandated responses as enumerated in the California Labor Code, and in the DOSH Policies and Procedures as follows: the numbers of inspections being performed by the 21 district, and field offices is on the decline, inspections are not being opened within the required 14-day period, inspections are not being closed in a timely fashion, unfairly declaring an increasing number of complaints "invalid", targeted inspections in high hazard industries, and in process safety management are short changed, required follow up inspections for serious infractions are not being done, a reduction in previous programmed inspections in agriculture, construction, garment, and restaurant industries, less verification of abatement, or correction of cited hazards, weakened defenses of legal appeals by employers. These enforcement deficiencies have been clearly documented and are worsening. If a committed effective administration were operating the thirty vacant field inspection positions would be hired and trained on an emergency basis, and five times as many inspectors plus three physicians would be presented to the legislators as urgently needed to accomplish an effective Cal-OSHA.


April 2003 California has more fish and game wardens than workplace
safety and health inspectors - 227 vs. 193